


Because It's Christmas

by Huntress79



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Presents, First Christmas, Gen, M/M, Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 04:44:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20651411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress79/pseuds/Huntress79
Summary: Living in the aftermath of The Great Depression wasn’t easy, but that didn’t stop Bucky Barnes to buy Steve a gift for Christmas.





	Because It's Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> written for superhero_land and the prompt “It’s Christmas, you moron” by candream. Set pre-The First Avenger, with the guys sharing an apartment and a slight slashy undertone ;) Enjoy!

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By the time December rolled around, Bucky Barnes was stretching thin. Due to the bad weather (they already had two blizzards hitting the greater New York area), work at the docks was more or less non-existing (and those few hours didn’t pay enough to count actually), and even the boxing fights were far and few between.

So what’s a guy going to do to not only make ends meet, but also have some money to spare for a Christmas gift? Since Steve and his weak immune system were confined to their apartment most of the time, Bucky took jobs all over New York.

Helping out with the luggage at the hotels, doing the dishes in almost every diner and restaurant in town, being a stagehand on- and off-Broadway, assisting shop owners with their deliveries (both to and from the shop), or keeping the bar on the weekends were just a few of the jobs Bucky did in the weeks leading up to December 25th. Fortunately, he had Lady Luck on his side for once, and so he made quite some money in these weeks. On top of that, his mother accosted him one day when he came by for a quick lunch, questioned him in her typical, right-down-to-the-core fashion, and sent him back to Steve not only with some leftovers, but also with some money she made as a seamstress on the side.

The week before Christmas, Bucky was on his way back to Brooklyn when he spotted the perfect gift in a small shop window near the butchery he helped out that day (gross, but he had some nice chunks of meat in his backpack, next to money). Since it was their first Christmas together at the apartment, Bucky wanted to make it as memorable as possible for Steve.

He also knew that the other man loathed the winter months, since they locked him inside, due to the multitude of illnesses his frail body had to fight every day. Sometimes, when they couldn’t fall asleep at night, they told each other their biggest dreams for the future. And most of the time, Steve dreamed of moving to a part of the USA where there was no winter, where it was warm all year long.

Since Bucky couldn’t give Steve that (and God, did he wish he just could do that, pack him up and leave for greener pastures), he settled for the next best thing. And that was, apparently, a full set of equipment for an artist.

The price for it shocked Bucky in the first moment, but when the shop assistant laid it all out for him to peruse, he saw Steve sitting next to the small oven in the kitchen, a blanket wrapped around his thin frame, his sketchbook in his lap, working on yet another sketch of something he either saw or heard that day. That prospect alone made the decision for Bucky, and so he finally went home, the perfect gift for the man who meant the world to him safely tucked away in his spare shirt at the bottom of his backpack.

On Christmas Morning, Bucky slipped out of bed, letting Steve sleep in (since the night before was quite a tumultuous one, with Steve hacking up a lung). While the water for their morning coffee started to boil, Bucky went to the small closet and pulled out the old cardboard box he kept there. Steve didn’t care about it, and it never paid off better than now, Bucky thought with a grin.

Two days before, they had put up a small tree in the corner of their living room, adorning the branches with the few Christmas ornaments Steve had left from his mother. Placing the wrapped gift beneath the tree, Bucky went back to the kitchen, finishing preparing their breakfast.

He was almost done and about to head back to the bedroom, when Steve shuffled out, yawning. He looked like death warmed over several times, but to Bucky, he was the best thing to see at any given time.

“Morning, Buck,” Steve rasped, his throat still sore from all the coughing in the night.

“Morning, Steve,” Bucky gave back while wrapping the other man in his arms, “and Merry Christmas.”

“Is it?” Steve blinked up at Bucky, still not fully awake. Bucky nodded. “Well then, Merry Christmas, to you too, Buck.”

With just a minimum of reluctance, Steve peeled himself away from Bucky and sat down at the table, taking a sip from his coffee.

“Any plans for today? Visiting your family?”

“Maybe,” Bucky answered while sitting down, “depends on the weather.” He motioned his head towards the window, and only now Steve took notice of the thick snow flakes falling from the heavens. “Right now, staying in is safer for everyone.”

“You might be right on that, pal,” Steve quipped back with a smile. He knew how much his family meant to Bucky.

“Of course I am,” Bucky smiled before digging in. In no time, they finished the pancakes and jam, and with just a few moves, Bucky steered Steve over to the living room. When the smaller man saw the package under the tree, he stopped dead in his tracks before turning around to Bucky.

“Bucky? There’s a gift under the tree.”

“Yeah, from what I’ve heard, that’s a tradition on Christmas.”

“Duh, I know that. But…”

“But what, Steve?”

“I don’t have a gift for you, Bucky. I tried to save some money, but it all went into my new medicine, and some new blankets, and…”

“Stop it right there, Steve!” Bucky put a finger under Steve’s chin, pulling it up so the other man had to look at his eyes. “I know about it, and I just wanted to give you a gift for our first Christmas together. Besides, I’ve got you here, alive against all odds, and that’s a far bigger gift than anything else.”

Steve let out a huff. “You’re a sap, Bucky.”

“Yeah, might be, but I’m _your_ sap, Rogers, till the end of the line.” He turned Steve back around to the tree. “And now you should have a look at what Santa left for you.”

With another huff, Steve did as told, and the glow he got once he had torn the paper away was a bigger reward than Bucky could have dreamed of. Not even the kiss he got from Steve once he joined him on the floor was topping that, but only to a fraction.

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The End

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End file.
